UN North Korea Sanctions Monitoring Body to Disappear... Russia Exercises Veto

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting taking place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The activities of the UN expert panel monitoring the implementation of UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against North Korea will end at the end of next month. This is because Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, exercised its veto in the vote to extend the panel's mandate.

On the 28th (local time), the UN Security Council held a meeting at its headquarters in New York and voted on a resolution to extend the mandate of the expert panel under the North Korea Sanctions Committee. Of the 15 Security Council member states, 13 voted in favor, but Russia exercised its veto, and one country abstained.

For the resolution to pass, it must receive the support of at least 9 of the 15 Security Council members, and none of the five permanent members? the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France?may exercise a veto.

With the resolution failing, the mandate of the expert panel under the North Korea Sanctions Committee will end on April 30. If an agreement is reached before then and a resolution is adopted again, the mandate could be extended, but analysts believe it is unlikely that Russia will change its position immediately.

The expert panel has investigated cases of North Korea’s violations of sanctions and issued in-depth reports twice a year.

It was established following North Korea’s second nuclear test in 2009 and has extended its mandate annually through resolutions. If the expert panel is disbanded due to Russia’s opposition this time, it will disappear into history after 15 years.

Russia has long demanded the introduction of a sunset clause for the entire North Korea sanctions regime, but when this was not accepted, it reportedly refused to extend the expert panel’s mandate.

Currently, the North Korea sanctions remain in effect unless a separate agreement is made, but Russia has demanded that the sanctions automatically expire after a certain period.

Since this demand is unacceptable to South Korea, the United States, Japan, and others, analysts say that Russia has made unreasonable claims to effectively end the use of the expert panel.